Straw-holder.



T. S. 6: A. L. LEWIS.

STBAW HOLDER.

APPLICATION rum) DEO.26, 1908.

926,581 Patented June 29, 1909.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS S. LEWIS AND ALONZO L. LEWIS, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.v

STRAW-HOLDER.

Specificationb! Letters Patent.

Application filed December 26, 1908.

Patented J'une 29, 1909.

Serial No. 489,369.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS S. LEWIS and ALoNzo L. LEWIS, citizens of the United States, residing at 2164 Madison street, in the city of Memphis and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in Straw-Holders; and we do ereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

' ally used at soda fountains,

" beveled portion Our invention relates to improvements in straw holders, and the object of our invention is to provide asimple device, of neat appearance, to hold the straws such as are usurotecting them from dust and flies and yet oldingthem in such a way that they may be readily reached by the user without opening the holder. Our invention, however, is not confined to this use, as it is a plicable to contain any long objects of smail diameter, as pencils, for

' example. 25

- pprted on suitable legs e, one ateach corner.-

ounted on these heads is the body portion, the main part of which is a partial cylinder as shown at f, terminating in an outward curt/fig g in line with the curved ojrtion c of the heads. The lower part of the body consists of two curved pieces h and 6, meeting in a point 9' and curved away from each other and extending downwardly to a line 7c under the edge formed by the curve The outer part of each of these pieces is tl ien'bent u wardly at an angle, as shown at m, leaving a ongitudinal opening n through which the straws or other articlesmay pass. ,The parts it, '11 and m are cut away in the center as shown at 0,.to permit the finger being placed underneath opening in its top, a cover ily pull it out. This cutaway ortion is widest at the outside and gradua ly tapers inwardly, being at its inner end about the width of an ordinary finger. The top of the receptacle is open as shown at p, and this opening is adapted to be closed by a remova le cover q, provided with end flanges rand pins 8 to keep the cover in place.

In using, the straws or other articles are dropped into the top and fall by gravity into the position shown on the left of Fi 2, leavin one straw, and only one, .rea y to be pu led out. The peculiar shape of the parts g, h, 'i and m and the position of the s 0t n are of great importance in this connection, because they are.so shaped that just one straw appears in the o ening n, the other straws lying against eac other, as-shown in Fig. 2, preventing the weight of the straws above from driving the exposed one out of the casing. The straws are simply dropped into one of the straws, or similar articles, to readthe receptacle and by a slight shake are com- 1 pelled to lie longitudinally in the receptacle, which is slightly longer than the straws themselves.

The device may be made of any suitable material, such, for example, as ordinary tin.

We claim A receptacle for straws and similar articles, consisting of a body ortion having an tilierefor, ends closing said bod ortion, and a double, inclined bottom, sairl body portion having its lower edges inclined downwardly and outwardly, and the parts of said bottom being joined together so as to separate the articles into two parts, each part of the bottom being inclined downwardly and outwardly and terminating in an upwardly inclined portion, a narrow spacebeing left between the edge of said upwardly inclined portion and the ower edge of the bottom being centrally cut away, substantially as described.

v In testimony whereof, we affix our signatures, in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS S. LEWIS. ALONZQ L; LEWIS. Witnesses:

P. H. PHELAN, Jr., JorrN MoNUL'rY.

said body portion, said inclined portion of 

